A Battery Energy Storage Interface for Wind Power Systems with the Use of Grid Side Inverter S. D. G.

Jayasinghe*
Student Member, IEEE

D. M. Vilathgamuwa*
Senior Member, IEEE

U. K. Madawala**
Senior Member, IEEE *School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore **Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, The University of Auckland, New Zealand E-mail: shan0034@ntu.edu.sg, emahinda@ntu.edu.sg and u.madawala@auckland.ac.nz
Abstract -- This paper presents a novel concept of Energy Storage System (ESS) interfacing with the grid side inverter in wind energy conversion systems. The inverter system used here is formed by cascading a 2-level inverter and a three level inverter through a coupling transformer. The constituent inverters are named as the main inverter and the auxiliary inverter respectively. The main inverter is connected with the rectified output of the wind generator while the auxiliary inverter is attached to a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). The BESS ensures constant power dispatch to the grid irrespective of change in wind condition. Furthermore, this unique combination of BESS and inverter eliminates the need of additional dc-dc converters. Novel modulation and control techniques are proposed to address the problem of non-integer, dynamically-changing dc-link voltage ratio, which is due to random wind changes. Strategies used to handle auxiliary inverter dc-link voltage imbalances and controllers used to charge batteries at different rates are explained in detail. Simulation results are presented to verify the efficacy of the proposed modulation and control techniques in suppressing random wind power fluctuations. Index Terms--Dual Inverter, Energy Storage Interfacing, Non-integer dynamic voltage ratio.

I. INTRODUCTION With the increased penetration of wind power plants into mains grids, shortcomings of wind power systems get increasingly apparent. Therefore, power industry will need to find solutions to challenges such as elimination of power fluctuations, securing power quality, connection of wind farms to weak grids, prediction of wind power and changes in operating strategies of conventional power plants [1]. Irregular variations of the wind power are the root cause of the first and more or less partial cause of the others [2]. Therefore, mitigation of wind power fluctuations becomes the essential and effective way in dealing with these challenges and hence promoting wind energy. The feasible solution, as most researchers suggest, is the combination of accurate wind forecast and the use of energy storage [3]. As potential solutions to store wind energy, flywheels, supercapacitors, superconducting magnetic energy storage,

batteries, compressed air energy storage, hydro pump stations and production of hydrogen are identified. Most of these energy storage systems are connected to the intermediate dclink of back-to-back converter systems to inject the deficit or to absorb the surplus of wind power. This requires additional dc/dc or ac/dc bidirectional converters thus increasing the cost of such implementations. If the grid side inverter itself can be used to interface the ESS then these additional converters are not required. However, very few papers have been published along this line, leaving more space for new research. The proposed grid side inverter with an ESS interface is shown in Fig. 1. It utilizes the popular dual inverter structure connected through open windings of a three phase transformer. The two inverters are named as the main inverter and the auxiliary inverter owing to their modes of operation. The main inverter is a high power low speed inverter which operates at the fundamental frequency producing square wave outputs. Harmonics produced by this square wave output is compensated by the low power high speed auxiliary inverter. This particular power and frequency splitting arrangement can reduce switching losses as well as device ratings in both inverters. Eventually, the overall cost of the system becomes low compared to that of other topologies Readily available standard modules can be used to build this multilevel inverter without additional components. Unlike traditional 2-level inverters, which produces 2 voltage levels, this inverter topology has the ability to produce 3 to 8 voltage levels with increased switch utilization and power capacity. Another important feature of this inverter topology is its ability to boost the auxiliary inverter dc-link voltage compared to the main inverter. This is due to the presence of two batteries at the auxiliary inverter dc-link and the possibility of charging them independently. As a result of this, the battery bank is able to supply the demand for a sufficiently long period even if the wind is absent.

978-1-4244-5287-3/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE

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is done by adding a dc offset to the reference signals of the auxiliary inverter which in turn changes the small vector selection pattern. A detailed description of the dual inverter operation under various voltage ratios is given in Part II with relevant diagrams and waveforms. The proposed modulation strategy is explained in Part III. Modifications proposed to handle unbalanced battery voltages and charge/discharge rates are explained in Part IV. Simulation results are presented in the Section V to verify the efficacy of the proposed modulation and control techniques. II.
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the proposed grid side inverter with an ESS interface.

EFFECTS OF DC-LINK VOLTAGE VARIATIONS

The rectified output voltage of the variable speed Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) proportionately varies with the rotor speed [4]. In addition to that, the auxiliary inverter dc-link voltage varies with the State of Charge (SoC) of its batteries. Therefore, the end result is non-integer, dynamically-changing voltage ratio between main and auxiliary inverter dc-links, which leads to unevenly distributed space vectors. The challenge here is the generation of undistorted current waveforms even in the presence of unevenly distributed space vectors. Extensive research has been done on modulation and control of dual inverter topologies, especially for motor drive applications [5], [6]. They all consider cases where fixed integer dc-link voltage ratios are present. A Space Vector Modulation (SVM) method with common mode rejection is presented in [7]. A PWM scheme for dual inverters is explained in [8] for 1:1 and 1:2 voltage ratios. A power sharing controller is proposed in [9] with dynamic dc-link voltages. However, even in that case voltage ratio is assumed to be constant. No previous work has been found addressing the issue of non-integer, dynamically-changing voltage ratio, especially for simultaneous variations in both main and auxiliary inverter dc-link voltages. The method proposed in [10] takes only the auxiliary inverter variations into account while keeping the main inverter dc-link voltage constant. Therefore, this paper presents novel modulation and control methods to produce undistorted current and deliver a constant amount of power to the grid even in the presence of dynamic variations in both main and auxiliary inverter dc-link voltages. Another significant issue with the proposed inverter system is the unavoidable imbalance of battery voltages due to nonidentical batteries and differences in their states of charging. As a solution to this issue a carrier amplitude modification method is suggested in this paper, which is capable of producing desired output current even in unbalanced conditions. Furthermore, charging or discharging rates of the batteries should vary according to their states of charge. This

Variation of the main inverter dc-link voltage, Vdc, for a typical wind speed profile is shown in Fig. 2(a) [11]. Consequently, dc-link voltage ratio fluctuates between 0 and 1.6 as shown in Fig. 2(b). In this simulation, battery voltages were kept at 300V for each battery. As the voltage ratio varies, space vector diagram of the combined inverter exhibits varied shapes as in Fig. 3(a). In these space vector diagrams, main inverter vectors, called main vectors, are marked with dark dots. Auxiliary inverter vectors, called auxiliary vectors, are represented by the attached sub hexagons at each and every main vector point. Inverter phase voltages take 3 to 8 levels depending on the dc-link voltage ratio as shown in Fig. 3(b). However, it is possible make the fundamental component of the inverter output voltage controllable for the range of 0 to 1.75 as shown in Fig. 3(b) with the proposed modulation method.
1000 Vdc (V)

Vdc

Vdcx

500

0 0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5 Time (S)

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

(a)
1.5 Vdc/Vdcx 1 0.5 0 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Time (S) 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

(b) Fig. 2. (a) Main inverter dc-link voltage, (b) dc-link voltage ratio.

At the ratio of 0, in other words when wind is absent, main vectors are not available. Virtually all the main vectors coincide at the origin making all the sub hexagons to merge and produce a single sub hexagon. Therefore, output voltage has only three levels. In this case, the battery bank itself supplies the total demand. But as soon as the ratio is increased by a small amount, six different voltage levels begin to appear which gets optimized at 0.25. Later it descends to four levels as the ratio approaches to 0.5. Further increase of the ratio yields a gradually improving 7 level

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phase voltage pattern with a climax at 0.75. However, it falls to 5 levels when the ratio reaches 1. In Fig. 3(a) inner sub hexagons are not shown for the ratio of 0.5, 0.75 and 1 as the diagram being too complex. At the ratio of 1.5 and 2 voltage waveforms can have 6 and 7 levels respectively. The upper limit of this inverter topology is 8 levels which can be observed near the ratios of 1.25 and 1.75. Beyond 1.75

non overlapping areas emerge, which need fast switching between main vectors. Even though it is possible to operate in that region, authors prefer to limit operations to the range of 0 to 1.75. This is possible by setting the wind turbine to reach the cut off speed as the ratio approaches 1.75.

(a)
500

Vas (V)

-500 0 400

0.25

0.5

0.75

1.25

1.5

1.75

Van (V)

200 0 -200 -400 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2

Vdc/Vdcx
(b)

Fig. 3. (a) Space vector diagram for different voltage ratios, (b) Phase voltage vas and its fundamental component of van.

III. PROPOSED MODULATION STRATEGY As mentioned in the introduction, the main inverter operates on the six step mode producing square wave outputs. The auxiliary inverter is used to compensate the harmonic power of the main inverter as well as to regulate the real power exchange with the grid. Fig. 4 illustrates this combined operation where the auxiliary inverter is purposely turned off until 30ms. During this period only the main inverter square wave output is available. Harmonic distortion of the output voltage is significant under this operation. After 30ms,

auxiliary inverter is turned on and consequently the output voltage becomes smooth with a low harmonic distortion. Therefore, one can consider the conditioning inverter as an active filter with real power exchange. Usually in harmonic filters, the given waveform is subtracted from the ideal waveform and then the difference is compensated. The same idea is used in the proposed modulation method.

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500 Vas (V) 0

-500 0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

Time (S)

0.06

Fig. 4. (a) Square wave output of the main inverter and smoothing effect of the auxiliary inverter.

differences are to be compensated by the auxiliary inverter and thus they become references for the auxiliary inverter. Subsequently, these new references are normalized according to (4) and pulse width modulation is carried out using two carrier waveforms shown in Fig. 6(c). A 500Hz carrier is used here for the illustration whereas the actual carrier frequency is ten times higher than that. Corresponding inverter controller block diagram is shown in Fig. 9. More details about this controller is given in the next section

[vax
[vax
Va,main va,ref (V) 500

vbx vcx] = (Va,mainva,ref) (Vb,mainvb,ref) (Vc,mainvc,ref) (3)

T T

T vbx vcx ] =

3 [vax vbx vcx]T 2Vdcx

(4)

-500 0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

(a)
200 vax (V)

Time (s) 0.06

(b) Fig. 5. Space vector diagram showing vector addition and main inverter phase voltage levels (only one sub hexagon is included to maintain clarity).

-200 0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

Time (S) 0.06

(b)
Carrier Signals 1 0 -1 0

The relationship between line to ground voltages and switching states of the main inverter is given in (1). In the equation (1), Sa, Sb and Sc are the switching states of the main inverter which take either 0 or 1 as their values. Phase voltage levels of the main inverter can be obtained from the above line to ground voltages using (2). These phase voltage levels can take only four discrete values which are marked along the three axes va, vb and vc on the main inverter space vector diagram shown in Fig. 5. These three axes correspond to the phase voltages vas, vbs and vcs of the combined inverter.

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05 Time (S) 0.06

(c) Fig. 6. Modulation technique, (a) Square wave output of the main inverter for a-phase and the reference voltage waveform, (b) Difference between the reference and the square wave output, (c) PWM with two carriers.

IV.

MODIFICATIONS PROPOSED TO HANDLE UNBALANCED BATTERY VOLTAGES AND STATES OF CHARGE

[V

ag

V bg

V cg

] = [s
T

sb

sc ]

V dc 2

(1)

Va ,main 2 1 1 Vag 1 Vb ,main = 3 1 2 1 Vbg Vc ,main 1 1 2 Vcg

(2)

A plot of the available phase voltage levels for a-phase, Va,main, and its reference va,ref, are shown in Fig. 6(a). The difference between the reference and the square wave output of the main inverter is shown in Fig. 6(b). Similar waveforms can be obtained for the other two phases using (3). These

Batteries attached to the dc-link of the auxiliary inverter can be at different states of charge and thus at different voltages. This leads to an inevitable imbalance of the neutral point potential of the auxiliary inverter. As a result of this imbalance medium and small vectors get scattered unevenly as shown in Fig. 7(a and c). However, locations of large vectors depend only on the total dc-link voltage of the auxiliary inverter and would remain unchanged if it is constant. When upper and lower voltages are balanced, i.e. VL = VU, upper and lower small vectors coincide and only one inner hexagon is formed as shown in Fig. 7(b). Furthermore, medium vectors reach mid points of the outer hexagon at this particular state. If an unbalance is present, small vectors split and two separate inner hexagons appear as shown in Fig. 7(a) and Fig. 7(c). In addition to that, medium vectors move towards large vectors.

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vqs
202 101

102 001

002 012

reference signals being saturated. Corresponding upper and lower limits are given in (8).
022

201 200 210 100

212

112 011

211 111 222 122 000 221 121 021 020 120

vds

110 220

010

V U <VL

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 7. Space vector diagram for (a) VU > VL, (b) VU = VL, (c) VU < VL..

Conventional carrier based PWM does not produce desired outputs under such imbalanced conditions. As a solution to this problem carrier waveforms are modified according to (5) and (6). These modifications are graphically shown in Fig. 8(a). These modified carriers were obtained by applying arbitrary imbalance as shown in Fig. 8(b)
AU = 2VU VU + VL
2VL VU + VL

Fig. 9. Controller block diagram.

Sgn power

+ 1 =0 1

Pwind > Pdemand Pwind = Pdemand Pwind < Pdemand

(7)

(5)

Vdc V 1 < dc < 1 dc 2Vdcx 2Vdcx

V.
10 Wind Speed (m/s)

(8)

AL =
1

(6)

SIMULATION RESULTS

Carrier Signals

-1 0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.07

0.08

(a)
Battery Voltage (V) 600 400 200 0 0
VBattery 2

0.09 0.1 Time (S)

0 0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5 Time (S)

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

(a)
1000 Vdc (V)

VBattery 1

500

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.07

0.08

0.09 0.1 Time (S)

(b) Fig. 8. (a) modified carriers, (a) arbitrary voltages applied to create an imbalance in battery voltages.

0 0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5 Time (S)

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

(b)
8 Power (W) 6 4 2 0 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Time (S) x 10
4

Pw Pd
0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

When batteries are at different states of charging power sharing should also be changed accordingly. In other words the battery at a high state of charge should discharge more power when there is a deficit. Similarly, when there is a surplus of power the battery with a low state of charge should be given a priority to absorb power. This can be achieved by the proper selection of upper and lower small vectors. For an example, if battery 1 has to be given the priority, lower small vectors should be used at a higher rate than the upper small vectors. A negative dc offset, added to the three reference signals, would achieve this goal. Similarly, to give a priority to the battery 2 upper small vectors should be used at a higher rate and it can be done by adding a positive offset to the reference signals. Magnitude of this dc offset is obtained through a PI controller as shown in the controller block diagram in Fig. 9. Sign of the PI controller output is altered according to (7) to reflect the power deference in the dc offset. However, this offset should be limited to avoid

(c)
100 50 Ib2 (A) 0 -50 -100 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Time (S) 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

(d)
100 50 Ib1 (A) 0 -50 -100 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Time (S) 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

(e)

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100 50 ia (A) 0 -50 -100 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Time (S) 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

VI. CONCLUSIONS The popular dual inverter topology is customized to interface a Battery Energy Storage System at the auxiliary inverter dc-link. A novel modulation method has been developed to tackle the problem of non integer dynamically changing dc-link voltage ratio which is caused by random wind changes. Modified carriers are used in the PWM process of the auxiliary to produce desired outputs even in the presence of imbalances in battery voltages. Batteries are charged or discharged at different rates depending on their states of charge. This is carried out by introducing a dc offset into the reference waveforms. A detailed analysis on above modifications is presented in this paper. The efficacy of the proposed inverter, modulation method and the controller is verified using simulation results. REFERENCES
[1] [2] [3] H. Bindner and P. Lundsager, Integration of wind power in the power system, in Proc. IEEE Industrial Electronics Society IECON 02 Conf., Nov. 2002, vol. 4, pp. 3309 3316. Li. Wei and G. Joos, Comparison of Energy Storage System Technologies and Configurations in a Wind Farm, in Proc. IEEE Conf PESC., June 2007, pp. 1280-1285. E. Spahic, G. Balzer, B. Hellmich and W. Munch, Wind Energy Storages Possibilities, in Proc. IEEE Conf, Power Tech July 2007 pp. 615 620. L. Wei, C. Abbe and G. Joos, Control and Performance of Wind Turbine Generators based on Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines Feeding a Diode Rectifier, in Proc. IEEE Power

(f)
500 vas (V)

-500 0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5 Time (S)

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

(g)
500 van (V)

-500 0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5 Time (S)

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

(h) Fig. 10. (a) Wind speed, (b) Main inverter dc-link voltage Vdc, (c) Wind power, Pw, and dispatch power, Pd , (d) (e) Battery currents, Iba, and Ib2, (f) Current injected into the grid, ia, (g) Inverter output voltage before filtering, vas, (h) Inverter output voltage after filtering, van.

The proposed scheme including dual inverter and BESS has been simulated for one second on the Simulink-PLECS platform. The wind speed profile used in this simulation is shown in Fig. 10(a), which in turn produces a dc-link voltage variation of the main inverter as shown in Fig. 10(b). Corresponding wind power variation, Pw, and dispatch power, Pd, are shown in Fig. 10(c). From this graph it can be concluded that the proposed system has the ability to deliver constant amount of power to the grid amidst random fluctuations of wind. The surplus or deficit of power is supplied or absorbed by the battery with a current profile as shown in Fig. 10(d) and Fig. 10(e). Current injected into the grid and the inverter output voltage are shown in Fig. 10(f) and Fig. 10(g) respectively. Although the inverter output voltage in Fig. 10(g) shows fluctuations, once it get passed through the low pass filter a smooth waveform could be observed as in Fig. 10(h). System parameters are given in Table I.
TABLE I SYSTEM PARAMETERS Fundamental frequency Auxiliary inverter switching frequency Filter resistance Filter inductance DC-Link capacitors Peak value of the grid voltage Nominal battery voltage Rated power of the PMSG f = 50Hz fs = 5kHz Rf = 0.2 Lf = 3mH C = 2200F Vpk = 330V VBattery = 300V Pr, PMSG = 75kW

[4]

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[8]

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